Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Thank you,” Laven replied from across the room then moved her arm from her face and looked up at him when he bumped against the bed. “Good Lord… did you leave anything for the next guy?” She raised an eyebrow in his direction and noted the bags, not bag as in a singular piece of plastic used to hold things that usually has two handles, but bags.

“I take it we’re going to be watching a few movies then?” She tilted her head to the side a bit puzzled because he had mentioned going to his room to sleep. But if they were going to stay up then she may as well chip in to help cover the costs.

“Here,” Laven rolled over and opened the top drawer to her nightstand and pulled out her wall it. From it she withdrew the only twenty she had. It was supposed to be fun money for the weekend to maybe go bowling or something but it seemed that fun night got moved forward by a few days. “Take it. I’m not letting you pay for all of this.”

“Oh don’t even-,” She pointed a finger at him almost scoldingly yet teasingly in the same motion. “You startedwaaay before me.”

Laven grabbed the last of the pint and followed him across the hallway to his room. “Would you call me a wuss if I request we watch something not horror?” Granted the point of halloween movies, usually, was to make you jump. But she already had both feet come off the floor simultaneously and landed in his lap. Even if it would have been a pure accident it was only by some miracle that she didn’t land on his groin.

While Wolframite put his things away, she hobbled over to his bed and moved the furs aside before crawling under them where she knew it would be soft, comfortable and blessedly warm.

When he held up the movie Laven immediately recognized the Sanderson Sisters on the cover, one of which was played by Sarah Jessica Parker.

“YES!” she replied a bit more loudly than she meant to. “That’s a classic!” Ok, so not really a classic presay but she had yet to find any sane adult that didn’t have fond memories of that movie.

Although she had no intention of admitting it outloud, as a kid she may have had a girlish crush on the boy who played Binx at the end. “I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it.”

Choosing sweet over sour for the time being, Laven bit one of the Peach-O’s in half and chewed it for a moment. “We can go tomorrow if you’d like!”

“I know of a you-pick pumpkin patch that has a corn maze that looked like fun.” She looked over at him at the mention of maze to quickly explain, “It’s nothing like the one at the faire. It’s kind of like crop circles in a way. Someone comes in and breaks the corn stocks in a pattern so from an aerial view there is a unique design. Everyone is given a map and somewhere in the maze are 5 pillars with a hole punch, you just need to collect them all.” She’d have to look up online later to see what the design was this year.

As the Sanderson Sisters gave Emily the last drop of potion which in turn gave the little girl an almost ethereal glow, Laven found herself somewhat grateful that they didn’t have to steal energy that way.

“But if you want the full experience of pumpkin carving, you can’t cheat and use your claws. Plus, it’ll be a pain in the a** to get pumpkin guts out of your fur.” It meant they would need to be glamoured for it but that was ok. It would also give her a reason to bug Tinakesite to see if she would be interested in baking pumpkin seeds when they were done.

Laven hummed thoughtfully at his posed question, well... the second one at least. The first one about quota’s she kinda ignored. Save work talk for when they weren’t trying to relax otherwise one of them was bound to get riled up and not in a good way.

Once he settled comfortably against her, she stuck another gummy treat in her mouth then reached over to lightly scratch the spot behind the opposite ear. “It makes me wonder though. As half youma, do we even age? Youma don’t, otherwise, there wouldn’t be Greater or Ancients asleep in the rift. You also mentioned that they don’t die either, they just get reborn after being dusted.”

“What does that mean for us? Do we have a half-life? A double life? Or are we just time-locked as we are?” That is until something finds a way to kill them. The Rift was not their home, the Dark Kingdom was. Then again perhaps nothing changed for them age-wise.

After a moment Laven lowered her hand. However, in that same motion, she wrapped her arm around his paw and pulled it towards her. She smiled at Wolframite while hugging his arm then went to take a bite of his candy bar knowing that if she asked for a bite he’d just shove it in his mouth. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission this time; she was learning.

It didn’t seem to phase her when Wolframite was messing with her hair, if anything she had to fight the urge to close her eyes and lean into it if only so he’d continue to scratch her head. One of her college friends use to do that for her a lot and now she realized how much she truly missed that attention.

At least until he touched her horns.

It was an involuntary reaction, but a reaction nonetheless when Laven ducked her head just a bit as if she had suddenly become head shy. Her youma nature flared for the briefest of moments but she had to remind herself that it was a careful touch borne from curiosity not an act of dominance over her.

As it was, her horns were an insecurity so bringing attention to them made her a little bit uncomfortable. But he was a friend, someone she trusted enough to lay beside her while they both slept. Her youma side had already conceded to his when their minds were linked and so, before he had a chance to pull away or think he had done something wrong, Laven relaxed beside him and reached up to hold his paw against the side of her head.

“What do they feel like?” For a minute or so she considered the question carefully while glancing at the screen just as Max defiantly lit the black candle.

“They’re kind of like your claws I suppose. I’m aware of you touching them but it doesn’t hurt.” Laven removed her hand and reached for his other paw and with her index finger and thumb she barely pinched the tip of one of his claws to better explain what she meant.

“They’re definitely horns and not antlers. At the center is a bone core, so what you’re touching is the covering or sheathe. I only know this because the day I awakened I tried to break them off.” Something he was already aware of because she had shown the moment to him when he wore her earring. “With enough pressure I’m sure they would break but it isn’t something I’m willing to test. Not exactly keen on the idea of having bone exposed.” While antlers can grow back, horns do not.

“The smaller ones are fine, I don’t really notice them much, but the top ones are sharp and make it uncomfortable to sleep sometimes.” As Wolframite should be well aware because she had fallen over on his shoulder a few months back. “I’ve impaled a few too many pillows when rolling over then I care to count.” Waking up with pillow fluff on her face and in her hair had been a bit of a surprise the first time it happened.

Talking as much as she had been was making Laven’s throat feel dry. She glanced over at her pint of slowly melting ice cream then over at the cans of soda he had purchased. An idea struck her then, “Do you have a cup in here? Not one of the small paper ones but like a mug or something?”

Put a cork on them The thought of it made Laven smile but in all honesty, after some consideration, it was a good idea but rather than a wine stopper perhaps something more like a cap instead. “Cork would fall apart too quickly or come off, but maybe something silicone so it has grip? I know there are things you can order online for cat claws so they don’t tear apart furniture.” Worth looking into at least. For now she would just have to continue sleeping with her back against the wall.

When Wolframite got up she ran her finger along her horns and groaned. “God I hope they don’t get much longer.” A little bit might be fine but too much more and she’d feel off balance. However, his mention of them both needing longer beds did put her mind a bit at ease after what happened earlier in her room.

“Hold please,” she instructed when he got settled again.

Laven held the carton in one hand and with the other scoped the remaining ice cream into the mug until there was nothing left in it before setting it aside and reaching for a can of Coke. With her claws she lifted the tab and from it there was a loud pop and a low hissing sound. She then proceedd to pour at least half the can into the mug, only stopping when the frothy foam created a dome like cap above the ice cream.

“Voila” With a big grin, the spoon was then placed in the center of the cup, held upright by the vanilla ice cream she had stabbed it into. “A Coke float! Enjoy~”

“If there’s one thing I’ve taken away from our adventures it’s that I don’t know enough about anything.” Fighting for one, but if she voiced that he may take it as an invitation to go rough house outside. Take her injury as an opportunity to adapt to circumstances or what not. It wasn’t that she didn’t value his instructions, and maybe she was being more of a distraction keeping him from his goals. But there was more to life than training or fighting and that was what she was trying to teach him in turn.

“I don’t feel like I’ve seen enough youma to really be able to answer that yet.” Laven reached over and took a bite of the ice cream float. She nearly spilled some on her furs but managed to catch it in the palm of her other hand. “We didn’t even make it that far when you took me into the Rift and yet we saw over a dozen different ones.” Even now she was still amazed by it.

“I guess, I just wish I was something cuter.” She made a bit of a face then gave him back the spoon.

Laven held her hands out in front of her then spread her fingers so the webbing was stretched between them. “While they do help with swimming, I do kind of wish that these weren’t always there you know? Or that I didn’t look like I was in a constant state of hypothermia.”

“It’s like I’m the walking personification of Eiffel 65’s song I’m Blue.” Catchy song but still...

“What about you? If you had a choice what would you be or change?” It seemed fitting that his youma half was that of a wolf considering what his mineral name was. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t have preferred something else.